Renowned psych prof emeritus dies

Solomon AschSolomon Aschwas a respectedSolomon Aschwas a respectedsocial psychologist Psychology Professor Emeritus Solomon Asch died at the age of 87 last week of pneumonia in Haverford, Pa., College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Rescorla announced yesterday. Asch, who came to the University in 1972 and retired in 1979 at the age of 68, taught Rescorla as both an undergraduate and graduate student. Rescorla used Asch as an example of how good teaching is not about being a wonderful lecturer. "He wasn't a very good lecturer, but he ran a seminar wonderfully," Rescorla said. "He had a tremendous impact on anyone he worked with." Rescorla assisted Asch with research on human memory as well. Asch was a well known social psychologist who began his teaching career at Brooklyn College. He was also a faculty member at the New School for Social Research and Rutgers University in New York. But Asch spent the majority of his academic career at Swarthmore College prior to coming to Penn, Psychology Department Chairperson John Sabini said. Asch's research pioneered impression formation and social pressure experiments, Rescorla said. Impression formation is the study of the process through which individuals compose their judgements about another person based on facts acquired. "Impression formation has become a huge part of social psychology," Sabini said. Asch also pioneered experiments on conformity. He studied the impact of peer pressure on an individual's willingness to make unique judgements, Rescorla explained. "His experiment on conformity is probably the most justly famous studies in the corpus of social science," Psychology Professor Martin Seligman said. Another of Asch's great accomplishments was his textbook Social Psychology, which was published in 1952 and considered a classic in the field, according to Asch's former colleague, Psychology Professor Paul Rozin, who is currently on sabbatical at Stanford University. The reprinting of Asch's book in 1987 by Oxford University Press indicated its timelessness, Rozin added. Those who knew Asch claimed he was the greatest social psychologist of the 20th century. "Solomon was one of the giants of 20th century social psychology," Seligman said. Sabini agreed, saying that Asch "was probably the most distinguished social psychologist that has ever been." And Rozin described Asch as "the ideal combination of thinker, observer and experimenter."